Tom Bukovac

At 20:53, Tom goes into his '38 Martin 000-18, after John asks about his last guitar visible on screen.

"This is definitely the best acoustic guitar I personally have ever had..."

Tom's demonstrative playing with this guitar truly does sound spectacular.

Tom asks John to pick another guitar from the vault, and at 8:04 he begins to talk about his 3 tone sunburst 335 as John hands it to him. He mentions he got the guitar from Gruhn's Guitars in Nashville, TN, at the behest of John's buddy "Greg" who had convinced Tom to purchase it, perhaps Greg Koch? Who can really say...

"This is a '58 335, first year, with the unbound fretboard... That's another Gruhn's guitar, that your buddy Greg talked me into buying..."

At 8:33 Tom begins to tell the story this guitar being put to the test against another 335 he'd owned previously, just before playing it plugged into his rig.

"I had a '58 that I loved before I got this... I kept comparing, I can't afford to keep both of them... I couldn't decide which one I liked better, but I ended up going with this one, a little bit lighter."

At 13:38 John hands Tom his red Firebird, as he begins to say a little about his love for them.

"I'm a big Firebird freak... I like both the reverse and the non-reverse... this guitar is absolutely magic."

"This guitar was not like this when I first got it, and I've spent tons of time and money making it killer..."

Tom mentions this guitar has the set of P90 pickups he would consider his absolute favourite of all time, after playing many different P90 equipped instruments.

at 14:34 Tom details some of the issues these guitars are known to have, and some solutions he invested in to make this Firebird more to his liking.

Tom is playing this guitar in the opening of his January 2020 episode of Rig Rundown, and timestamped at 3:49, Tom will go on to explain a little bit about this guitar.

"Well, this is a '61 SG Custom, or Les Paul Custom, as it says.."

"They're usually white, and this is a factory black... but this is one of less than probably three ever made."

At 18:35 Tom starts on about his '61 Gretsch 6120, that has a considerable amount of flame in the grain of its maple top.

"That's a '61 6120, and it's got a good bit of flame on it, which is kind of rare for these... this has got the classic Gretsch tone."

at 20:05, after some lovely demonstrative playing, Tom mentions the pleasing sustain of this guitar.

Tom Bukovac not too long ago (sometime between 2021 and 2022) introduced the audience of his "Home Skollin'" YouTube channel to his latest and - most would agree - greatest guitar acquisition; his sunburst 1958 Gibson Les Paul that he refers to simply as "the burst."

Tom Bukovac's "main" Stratocaster and one of the guitars you see him playing most often whether it's live, in the studio, in promotional videos or in his YouTube series "The Home Skoolin' Show." It's a 1960 Stratocaster in three tone sunburst.

Tom Bukovac's is a 1961** Fender Custom Telecaster. It's another guitar he uses often and one which he refers to as a "resto-mod" as he replaced the original, non-functioning pickups with a high end new set. This guitar can be seen used all over his "Home Skoolin' Show" on YouTube being used live, at home, in the studio, as well as the excellent series "Inside Blackbird."

NOTE - Again, Tom's is a 1961 Custom Telecaster and not a 1963 as the heading says. The site did not have the option for a 1961 or even 1959-1965 Custom Telecaster. I tried adding it to the site using the link to Reverb's section for "1959-1965 Fender Custom Telecaster" but the site denied the link as "this equipment already exists" with a reference back to "1963 Fender Custom Telecaster." This explains the "1963" title. If anyone remembers the aftermarket pickups Tom Bukovac added to this guitar, of course please add them to this entry.

Tom Bukovac has owned a number of Gibson ES-335's and this cherry red 1963 model he currently owns was one he chose to keep over another 1963 ES-335 that was tobacco sunburst. Feeling that although the sunburst had a fuller, more full range bridge pickup, that the more nasal bridge pickup in this cherry model made for a more interesting middle position sound that he deemed useful for studio work.

For the last year or so since the summer of 2022, Tom Bukovac has been occasionally featuring a beautiful lake placid blue, 1964 Fender Jaguar on his YouTube based "Home Skoolin' Show." Many of his viewers feel this guitar brings out something very cool and unique from an already extremely eclectic and highly versed player such as the venerable "Uncle Larry." It's unclear if this guitar is still being "borrowed" as it was said in the description of its initial video appearance on the "Home Skoolin' Show" or if like many others, Buk has become it's owner.

In the YouTube video "Homeskoolin’ Volume 175, Tom Bukovac, 'Transition Logo Blues'" by 501chorusecho, Tom Bukovac, also known as Uncle Larry, showcases his 1966 Fender Telecaster in white. Although Bukovac, a renowned Nashville session musician, traditionally favored Stratocasters for their single-coil sound, he has recently embraced Telecasters. This particular guitar features a rare "maple cap" neck, a special order from the era when Fender had switched to rosewood fingerboards. These "maple cap" necks, produced between 1962 and early 1969, are prized for their distinct tonal qualities and historical significance, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's famous custom-ordered Strats.

In this video Robert Baker interviews Tom Bukovac about the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe he has owned since he was 12. The video also showcases Tom Bukovac playing the guitar.